as i was unemployed for several months and my new salary is less than my old, i will likely have a tax return that i could: set fire to or otherwise fritter away, or perhaps make a sensible financial decision.. (50 is a good time to start, i guess?)

if you had middle-ish 4-digits to invest, what would be your go-to ethical investment options?

(you’re not offering financial advice, but a lived experience and story.. that’s totally legal, right? )

anyway. 3 years ago i nearly had to have an opinion on the medicare levy surcharge, but now even with my wife working we’re much further away from having to worry about the cost/benefit of private health insurance (just fund public health properly!). and i hear that threshold number is rising significantly, so likely not a problem for us, ever.

2.5 years ago my employer did some things to me that were probably not entirely legal, for reasons unknown, and we essentially had $0 to start 2023.

we’re saving as much as we can to create buffers, forecasts, actual plans, etc but i’d like to put something aside as a proper investment.

yes, superannuation is probably the best long-term investment.. if/when i get to retire. something that becomes effective before then would be nice too

trying to purchase a floor/carpet/upholstery cleaner thingo (the last one failed after 5 years), specifically for cleaning up pet oopsies.

there are a few options out there, but none of them really show if/how to clean all the oopsie .. chunks .. out of the device once the target surface has been cleaned.

this was challenging with the previous ‘pet stain eraser’ but manufacturers/shopping sites have apparently never needed to clean a device after cleaning up after a pet (or, honestly, sick humans)

this is what going to some kind of physical store might help with, but instead i’ll just return is a ‘not suitable for advertised purpose’ if/when it cannot be cleaned effectively

is there anything useful that can be done with an old lifx colour 1000 that randomly changes colour temperature? i’d consider extracting the led array, but i know it would just hang around for years before i throw it out..

does anyone want it? it works, but flickers occasionally (reboots) and changes colour temperature when in white mode

related: is Andy on the fedi anywhere?